The much awaited IBPS PO Mains 2017 exam was held on 26th November 2017. Many students do not even get a chance to appear in the exam. If you are among the lucky ones, who got a chance to appear in mains, you are already a step ahead of your peers but you need to work hard to clear this hurdle.

The IBPS PO selection process consists of three phases

1. Prelims

2. Mains

3. Interview.

The preliminary exam is of qualifying nature only and the final merit list will be prepared by combining your score of mains and interview in the ratio of 80:20 .

The IBPS PO prelims exam 2017 was of moderate to difficult level with a lot of changes in pattern in various shift. This led to a decrease in cut off from the previous year. So, it was expected that the mains paper will have a lot of surprises in store. And definitely this was the case observed.

The Mains exam was very difficult for the students especially for those who had just started their preparation. Changed pattern in almost all sections was a major setback in the performances of students. There were a very few conventional questions. Also the addition of descriptive test made it all the more difficult for students. So if you are not happy with your performance, don’t worry as you are not the only one who has not fared well. It can be expected that there will be a decrease in cut-off as well. So students try to be optimistic.

Sectionwise, English section was the toughest followed by Reasoning ability, Data Analysis and Interpretation and General/Economic/Financial Awareness.The English Section had extreme changes in pattern with new pattern questions of Errors, Double Fillers, and Cloze test. To add to the level of difficulty, the None of these option was present in almost all the questions in this section.

In Reasoning Section, most of the questions, apart from the ones on Data Sufficiency, followed a new and convoluted pattern that took the students to invest more time than usual in this section.The questions were very tricky and time consuming. ’Can’t be determined’ option was given in most of the questions, which added to the difficulty level of the questions. The puzzles were very tough to crack and there was only 2-3 questions from each set. No questions were asked from the computer aptitude although it was merged with the Reasoning section .

The Data Analysis and Interpretation section was not very tough yet it was calculative & based on concepts. The questions could not be solved with tricks. New pattern Caselet and inclusion of Geometry in Data Sufficiency made this Section more difficult and complicated than ever before. Inequalities were asked in the form of Quantity 1 and Quantity 2.